Release
Writer, journalist and biographer John Randall Taraborrelli stated, "Fans and industry peers alike were left with their mouths agape when Off the Wall was issued to the public. Fans proclaimed that they hadn't heard him sing with such joy and abandon since the early Jackson 5 days". On July 28, 1979, Off the Wall's first single, "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough", was released. It peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK. On November 3, 1979 the second single from the album, "Rock with You" was released, again it peaked atop the Billboard Hot 100.
In February, the album's title track was released as a single and went to number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and became a top 10 hit in four countries. "She's Out of My Life", also reaching number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in June. Thus Off the Wall became the first album by a solo artist to generate four US top 10 hits. Today, Off the Wall is certified 8× Multi-Platinum in the US for shipments of eight million units and sold over 20 million copies worldwide. The album's success lead to the start of a 9-year partnership between Jackson and Jones, their next collaboration would be Thriller, which is the world's best selling album of all time.
Read more about this topic: Off The Wall (album)
Famous quotes containing the word release:
“As nature requires whirlwinds and cyclones to release its excessive force in a violent revolt against its own existence, so the spirit requires a demonic human being from time to time whose excessive strength rebels against the community of thought and the monotony of morality ... only by looking at those beyond its limits does humanity come to know its own utmost limits.”
—Stefan Zweig (18811942)
“The near touch of death may be a release into life; if only it will break the egoistic will, and release that other flow.”
—D.H. (David Herbert)
“We read poetry because the poets, like ourselves, have been haunted by the inescapable tyranny of time and death; have suffered the pain of loss, and the more wearing, continuous pain of frustration and failure; and have had moods of unlooked-for release and peace. They have known and watched in themselves and others.”
—Elizabeth Drew (1887–1965)